DNA analysis reveals the big, flightless moa birds ate — and pooped out — 13 kinds of fungi, including ones crucial for New Zealand’s forest ecosystem.

New research has identified the extent to which human colonization and hunting contributed to the extinction of New Zealand's ...

New research has identified the extent to which human colonisation and hunting contributed to the extinction of New Zealand's giant flightless bird ...

Boast and a team of researchers, for example, are using fossilized dung to learn more about the diets of extinct flightless birds called moa that once roamed around New Zealand. Coprolites helped ...

Up until now, no evidence of the extinct birds eating the truffles had been found. The evidence for moa truffle consumption came courtesy of a fossilized ball of poop (coprolite) found in a cave ...

New research has identified the extent to which human colonisation and hunting contributed to the extinction of New Zealand's ...

Scientists can learn a lot about extinct animals by studying their footprints, bones and even teeth. But, while insightful, these artifacts don’t always paint a complete picture of an ancient creature ...

There are believed to be at least nine species of moa, ranging from small birds under 50kg to large ones over 3m tall and 250kg. These flightless, herbivorous manu went extinct about 600 years ago.

This is probably the legendary version of the Haast's eagle (Hieraaetus moorei), an actual and extinct predator ... flightless moa. For early Māori settlers, seeing this bird in action must ...